On Tuesday evening, life offered me a full circle moment. As I walked into and through it, I did not dare let myself ponder it too deeply, or I would have had a full-on, ugly cry over the whole thing. Not tears of pain, but tears of joy and remembrance.
My sweet friend, Joy Kight and I have been leading her Tuesday night Bible study group through HeBrews: A Better Blend. My heart has been blessed to hear how those words the Lord gave me to write have spoken into the lives of some beautiful women. These women have been transparent with what the Lord has done in their hearts as they have studied the book of Hebrews.
One sweet lady even gave everyone coffee-cup ornaments as a remembrance of our time in HeBrews: A Better Blend.
Tuesday evening was our final meeting, and along with Bible study, we indulged in a celebration supper. I really think pot-lucks are my favorite way to eat. The variety of choices at a pot-luck make eating more of a journey than a meal. I love to wander down a pot-luck table, getting little tastes of this and larger bites of that. Yum!!!
Here is where the full-circle comes in. Our group has been meeting in our newly renovated OLD Fellowship Hall. This room is the one that served as our church fellowship hall when I was a child growing up at First Baptist Blairsville. The renovations are spectacular, giving the room an elegance it has never enjoyed.
When I was a child and teen, our church always had a pot-luck supper on the first Wednesday evening of each month. It was a sweet, sweet time of food and fellowship that I still look back upon today. This monthly church supper was held in the very room where this group of ladies and I have been studying HeBrews. In addition to pot-lucks of old, this room also was where I spent many hours in VBS, GAs, Acteens and other activities. The Fellowship Hall holds so many precious memories for me.
There are two ladies in our Tuesday night group who, like me, grew up in the church, and enjoy the many of the same memories that I have tucked away. When the pot-luck for our Tuesday group was mentioned, immediately one of those ladies suggested that I bring chicken and dumplings.
My Grandma Eula was the chicken and dumpling queen at First Baptist. Every Wednesday night church supper that was ever eaten included her chicken and dumplings. I’m pretty sure she might have been turned out of the church had she failed to bring them on Wednesday nights. In fact, her chicken and dumpling recipe made it into our church history book!
I am the only family member who makes Grandma’s chicken and dumplings, and I do it in the antique pot that she always used. On Tuesday evening I made Grandma’s Chicken and Dumplings in her pot, took them to the room where we always shared meals at church supper, and sat them on a table that was placed in virtually the same spot they would have sat over 25 years ago.
Truly, I had come full-circle. Studying the Bible and partaking of a meal that included my Grandma’s chicken and dumplings in the very room where I had done the same as a child and teen. I nearly wept when my friend, Jimmie Jo, said, “Oh Leah, they taste exactly like Mrs. Eula’s tasted.”
What a rich history and legacy I have! I’m so grateful that I stand on the shoulders of godly men and women of First Baptist Church who were intentional in leaving a legacy of faith and hospitality for those of us who came behind. Now, the baton has been handed off to my generation. I pray we leave equally amazing legacies for those who come behind us.
